Borrowing From the World

 As a writer, there are many ideas that influence how you write.  From the way you grow up, to where you live, even the culture you are from.  It's unavoidable that your personal experiences would influence your writing style and the content of your story.  I mean, my father came from Oklahoma, where apparently they eat onions like apples, (I always thought my father was weird, but you have to love them, right?).  How you see the world will really depend on your life experiences.  Here are a few elements to take into consideration when you are writing.

1) You know you.  Don't be ashamed of who you are or where you come from.  The idea that an inner city person is going to perceive the world way different then me, a forest raised far from civilization person, is not unreasonable.  It's what makes all of us unique.  Its fun to see other people's perspectives.  Just bare his in mind, though, when you are writing.  Not all people in your audience are going to understand mass transit or crowded cities, nor are all people going to understand Forest Service roads and large tree stands.  Take a little time to explain such things, but not overtly.  Yes, you are explaining the obvious to you, but others may not see the obvious as well.

2) Don't be afraid to use ideas of the past.  In my stories I use the Roman Empire as a background for my Empire of Ariella.  The military, the leadership structure, even some of their beliefs on how things should be run.  It's not being lazy in your writing, it's incorporating ideas from our world. It is who we are and there is nothing wrong with blending it in to your stories.

3) Research what you don't know.  Like in the first idea, I really have no idea how mass transit works. (I grew up in the woods, mass transit was when the moms caravanned to town to do the monthly shopping, not buses and trollies.)  If I were going to use that in my story I would have need to look into how that works, like bus lines, times, routes, the whole nine yards.  Don't be afraid to admit you don't know.  If you don't know what a good tree for a forest would be in a certain climate, Google it.  Ask a friend.  Read a book.  In this day and age, the information is always at your finger tips!

Happy Writing